National leader Judith Collins says the Government is too “tied up” in analysing what could go wrong with a trans-Tasman bubble, instead of getting on with it.
Speaking on Breakfast, Collins said a Singapore-Australia travel bubble may open up first, because the Australian Government had a “can-do” attitude that would mean New Zealand would “just get left behind”.
“We’re sitting around worrying about what might go wrong rather than how can we fix it.”
She said there had been 12 meetings over nine months between New Zealand and Australia about the bubble, while tourist towns like Queenstown were “dying”.
“It’s enough time to have a baby conceived and born. This is just getting ridiculous.”
As the Government continued to face pressure over the trans-Tasman travel bubble, Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins claimed yesterday it was Australian officials who backed out of closing the deal on it last month.
Tourism Industry Aotearoa boss Chris Roberts says it will save jobs and hundreds of businesses if the bubble were to open.
But Collins said the “blame game between Australia and New Zealand has to stop”.
She said it was already clear what would happen in the event of an outbreak on either side of the Tasman.
“They can [currently] operate the bubble one-way. When we had Covid in the community … they were able to close the border temporarily and then they opened it up again.”
As of last night, National’s petition calling on the Government to immediately open up to Australia has gained 10,000 signatures.
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